Rabbi reflects on kidney donation to a stranger

This rabbi from Montreal is preparing to donate a kidney to a stranger

/ Janice Arnold

Life and death converged on Jan. 13, 2020, in a way that Rabbi Yechezkel Rabbi Freundlich could never have imagined. Tragedy and hope came together that day.

The spiritual leader of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem (TBDJ), Rabbi Freundlich had just returned home after hours at the hospital where the two-year-old child of congregants had died suddenly and without explanation.

Emotionally and physically spent, he collapsed. Minutes later his phone rang. “It was an unrecognizable number, which I usually don’t pick up, but I thought it was related to what was going on at the hospital.”

The exuberant caller said, “Mazel tov, you’ve been found to be a life-saving match!”

Rabbi Freundlich was stunned. The woman at the other end reminded him that, 13 months earlier, in December 2018 he had taken a swab test and registered with Renewal, a New York-based organization that identifies potential matches for Jewish people needing a kidney transplant, at an information event hosted by TBDJ.

“I would like to think I would have said yes anyway, but at that moment there was no doubt in my mind when she asked if I was still interested. I became very tearful. The woman said usually it’s the recipient who sobs when a match is found, not the donor.”

The match had been found in New York, a total stranger. That February, Rabbi Freundlich went to that city for a full day of tests. Before the second tier of tests could take place, the pandemic hit in March and hospitals shut down.

By June when New York hospitals were functioning again, the patient’s health had worsened and they were no longer a candidate for transplantation.

Within a week another potential recipient had been found— in Toronto. It was surprising that it was so quick this time because Rabbi Freundlich would learn that he has a specific sequence of antibodies that is hard to match.

So began the long journey to the transplantation scheduled for July 8 at Toronto General Hospital (TGH), after having been delayed repeatedly due to the backlog of surgeries caused by the pandemic.

Rabbi Freundlich spoke to The CJN from the hospital on June 30 during a break in his final pre-operative testing. Since being matched with a Canadian, he had to repeat the testing done in New York.

Rabbi Freundlich is an altruistic or non-directed donor, one of those rare people who give a kidney to save the life of a person in renal failure that they don’t know. Outcomes are better from a living donor than a deceased person. Known as a modest and exceptionally kind person, Rabbi Freundlich is telling his story in the hope that perhaps someone else might do the same as the waiting list for kidneys is long. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Rabbi Freundlich, the father of seven, has been fully apprised of the risks of an operation under general anesthesia, the pain and fatigue during the weeks to full recovery, and the potential—though slight— of long-term effects. He is practising what he preaches: “Our sages say saving a life is as if you save an entire world. God gave us two kidneys, even though we can live very well with one. Each of us has the ability to literally save a life.” Knowing the recipient would be Jewish did make it easier; the shidduch felt like it was not really with a stranger, but an extended family member. He admits his own family was not as sanguine initially as he was, “but they saw early on that I was not going to change my mind.” Rabbi Freundlich and his kidney’s recipient have been guided by Renewal Canada, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 that, besides matchmaking and liaising with the hospital, provides emotional and financial support. Accepting any kind of compensation for an organ donation is illegal, but donors’ ancillary expenses, such as travel and accommodation, can be covered, which Renewal has done for Rabbi Freundlich. Renewal told The CJN that the recipient is a woman in her 70s. Rabbi Freundlich was told her name, which meant nothing to him. He has no idea how much she knows about him. Whether they ever have any contact is up to the recipient. Rabbi Freundlich will be on the same hospital floor, and he would be happy to meet her. He’ll be spending three days in hospital post-operatively, his wife Rifki accompanying him. The rabbi has not only been busy preparing for this procedure: he has simultaneously been getting ready to start a new job in a new city. After six years, Rabbi Freundlich, who came to Montreal from Atlanta, is leaving TBDJ to become spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence, N.Y. His last Shabbat at TBDJ is Aug. 6. “They say you leave your heart in San Francisco; I won’t say this is a parting gift, but I am leaving my kidney in Toronto,” said Rabbi Freundlich, who has not lost his sense of humour. If someone cannot be a donor—and he personally knows four people in his Côte St. Luc community who need a new kidney—Rabbi Freundlich asks that a monetary donation for his and the recipient’s success be made to Renewal or to research into Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood through the Ronnie’s Joy Foundation, created in memory of the little girl who lost her life the day his changed forever. n

Janice Arnold has been reporting for The CJN from Montreal since 1976.

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Did El Al make a good business decision to cut its Toronto route? Yes and no: business experts

/ Ellin Bessner and Lila Sarick

Fred Lazar has never flown on El Al, but the Toronto aviation expert thinks the flagship Israeli airline may just have squandered much of the goodwill it established among generations of Canadian passengers. According to Lazar, who teaches economics at the Schulich School of Business at York University, the Toronto market was probably one of the most important ones in El Al’s schedule after New York, Miami, and London, England. At least, before COVID grounded international travel. When flying resumed, the new owners of the airline looked at current fuel costs and widespread shortages of pilots and crews, made a pledge to downsize the fleet, and pulled the plug on the non-stop route from Tel Aviv to Toronto—after nearly 40 years. “They may realize in three or six months afterwards, that maybe, in retrospect, it was not the right decision,” Lazar told The CJN. “Even if they decide to return, probably in the late spring, or next summer, they will have lost the loyalty of a significant amount of this market, and that’s why they may learn to regret it.” Although 100,00 Canadians travelled to Israel in 2019, many on El Al, pandemic lockdowns in both countries interrupted regular travel for two years. He does think another airline will jump in to provide service to Tel Aviv and compete with Air Canada.

Cancellations likely for bar mitzvah

But that won’t happen soon enough for Toronto’s Reena Ostro and her family. Ostro’s oldest son Adriel, 12, was set to put on his tefillin for the first time in Jerusalem during a pre-bar mitzvah ceremony at the end of December. Not only had Ostro already booked the time spot at the Western Wall for the event, but she also reserved the shofar blowers and the restaurant. Ten members of her family already have tickets with El Al. Last week, El Al emailed customers who have already booked tickets for trips after the last Toronto to Tel Aviv flight which ends on Oct. 27. In the email, El Al also said it wants to fly to new “exciting” destinations. Passengers who hold tickets are being offered several options, including rebooking to other destinations, flying to Ben Gurion airport via connecting flights in the United States or Europe, or even cancelling and receiving a voucher for future travel. When she learned the airline would no longer be flying directly from Toronto, Ostro reluctantly decided to cancel. “Talking about snow storms, bad weather, flying [with four kids] through New York, or anywhere, is just really just not possible, right?” she said, adding that the family would also lose so much time out of their week-long overseas trip. Ostro said aside from the logistics nightmare, if she switches to fly directly on Air Canada during the last week of December, it would have pumped up the cost of the airfare by close to $3,000. Both Hanukkah and Christmas fall during the week of their trip, when demand is strong from Christians and Jews alike who want to visit the Holy Land. While her son’s actual bar mitzvah won’t be until February, it will now likely take place in Toronto without the long-awaited rite of passage at Judaism’s holiest site. “He’s always dreamed of having his bar mitzvah in Israel. We promised him,” Ostro said. “So as of now, it does not look hopeful.”

Ticket prices on Air Canada will rise

Artzi Korostelev, executive vice-president of Peerless Travel in Toronto, says the issue is not re-booking travellers on now cancelled El Al flights, but the fact that prices have jumped significantly. “We’re finding alternatives for them. They understand they have to be more flexible. What is difficult is that the prices are extremely high, so there’s a lot of frustration to fend off.” Peerless is the largest El Al re-seller in Canada and had been in partnership with the airline for more than 30 years, he said. The agency sends over 10,000 travellers a year from North America to Israel. Fares have risen recently, not because of El Al’s decision to leave the Canadian market, but due to high demand for flights. But in the long run, having just one airline, Air Canada, providing non-stop flights to Israel from Canada is worrisome, he said.

“When an airline is not competing with anyone on a specific route there’s no incentive to keep rates in check, there’s no incentive to keep perks and sales.” Jewish travellers patronized El Al because they appreciated that the meals on board were kosher, the airline didn’t fly on Shabbat and offered extra levels of security. People who still want to fly El Al, usually for religious reasons, will likely travel through New York, which is problematic because of cancellations and congestion in New York airports, he said. Those looking for a cheaper flight will have to forego the convenience of a direct trip and look at connecting through Europe.

Religious travel impacted

El Al’s decision has also disrupted plans for Christian travellers who liked to fly on the Israeli airline, Korostelev said. “Especially for pilgrims that have been in Israel and support Israel and travel to Israel quite often…, they had grown accustomed to El Al service and they were extremely satisfied with the service out of Toronto. We’ve heard from many of them that they are extremely surprised and disappointed this is happening,” he said. While travel has not bounced back fully since COVID, the travel agency has seen strong demand for winter and spring travel to Israel, Korostelev said. “We do expect Air Canada to step in and fill in the gaps, meaning increasing their weekly frequency of flights. We recommend for them to do it sooner rather than later.” With Air Canada now cornering the market as the only airline offering direct service, experts expect the Canadian carrier will be free to raise ticket prices on flights to Israel by as much as 10 to 20 percent, according to Lazar. Like all airlines, Air Canada uses an algorithm that monitors demand, and adjusts ticket prices accordingly, he said. “What you’re going to find is the cheapest economy fares disappear, the other economy fares will increase and, with jet fuel prices, there is an even stronger incentive to increase those fares,” Lazar predicted. He doesn’t see Air Canada adding any additional flights to Israel, because of staffing problems. Indeed, the Canadian airline announced June 29 that it was cutting some routes in North America this summer to rebalance the available pilots and crews. Flying on an airline that adheres to Jewish religious rules is one of the main reasons why Jesica Myers loves El Al. The resident of Ramat Beit Shemesh Alef immigrated to Israel 20 years ago from Toronto, but her parents still live in Toronto, as does one of her sons. She takes the red-eye after the Sabbath ends, to arrive in Canada early Sunday mornings. As the owner of a ceramics business called Keramkli in Beit Shemesh, Myers had to pivot during the COVID pandemic, so she is upset that El Al decided not to wait any longer for volume to pick up on its route to Toronto. “I’m a business owner. I’m still trying to recover from COVID,” she said. “If the travel industry is just getting up to speed and it’s going to take a few months, obviously, then why make such a drastic decision right now?”

Serious financial trouble

The El Al move isn’t out of the blue. The new owner, American health care entrepreneur Ken Rozenberg, told an Israeli news outlet in September 2021 that he would shed 1,500 more employees, and reduce the size of El Al’s fleet. The El Al website is currently showing over 50 planes operating. “They are a relatively small airline, and so getting the right usage of every plane is extremely important in this competitive environment,” said management expert Opher Baron, of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. According to Baron, El Al just did what it needed to do to get out of serious financial trouble in the short term. He points to the Toronto route having several challenges, not the least of which involves winter weather causing delays. But also, Baron explained, El Al doesn’t fly anywhere else in North America, after the plane and its crew lands in Toronto. “When you don’t have much work to do with them, when they are idling, say in Toronto, because you don’t have any other flights from Toronto that you can use them for… you may find yourself paying too much to maintain one specific leg,” Baron said. Still, he also predicts El Al will be back eventually because Toronto is a loyal and solid market. “We’re a little bit of a captive audience in that if they come back, we will start using them again,” Baron said, although he cautioned El Al not to bank on smooth sailing if a third airline offers flights for the Canadian market first. n

Ellin Bessner is chief correspondent of The CJN Daily. Lila Sarick is news editor of The CJN.